


Surprises

by quartetship



Series: ADS Side Pieces [12]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: ADS Side Pieces, Birthday, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 08:37:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6898867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quartetship/pseuds/quartetship
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After half a dozen years together, there were few surprises for Jean and Marco.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> A short, birthday-themed story, set in the universe of ‘A Different Song’, about six years after Jean and Marco get together. (Originally posted on tumblr, last September!)

After half a dozen years together, there were few surprises for Jean and Marco.

Ask either of them some seemingly trivial question about the other, and they could rattle off an answer that would leave you wondering exactly when and _how_ they'd come by that information. Favorite colors and foods were only the tip of an impressive iceberg. Jean knew Marco’s favorite songs from musicals that had run for less than two months apiece in the 1980’s, and Marco knew of baseball players Jean had modeled his practice routines and play stances after that hadn't even played for American teams, let alone had their names on baseball cards. Theirs was a love built on friendship, bricks of deep respect and understanding mortared together with absolute adoration, even for the things that still got under their skin about one another.

And Jean thought it was about time to cement that love, permanently.

Marco’s birthday was always a big deal, coming from such a large family, with celebration basically flowing through their veins. They usually spent it volleying between one family member’s home and another, visits with aunts and lunches with sisters all part of the fun. But there was always a rush that drove them along while spending time with the Bodts, and when Jean suggested that they spend the evening of Marco’s actual birthday enjoying dinner alone, in Marco’s favorite quiet café, the look of joy and relief on his face was its own gift in return. It was the kind of peaceful familiarity that Jean knew Marco had grown to love; not a surprise, but a wonderful way to spend an evening, nonetheless.

The food was as delicious as they had become accustomed to it being, and Marco’s wine selection was as peculiar as it always was. The warm blush that rose to his cheeks after a glass and a half was something Jean had seen too many times to count, but that continued to take his breath away, every single time. Lacing their fingers, he didn't need to wish Marco a happy birthday aloud, but he did, all the same, and Marco chuckled quietly before leaning halfway across the table to kiss him, warm and soft and unhurried. It was exactly what they'd both been needing, been hoping for. It was everything a birthday dinner was expected to be, and Jean’s gift of a card - stuffed with tickets to the upcoming season’s newest Broadway shows - was just another predictable but no less wonderful part of the day.

Marco remarked that he couldn't ask for anything more, and Jean was glad for his happiness. He was glad for the life they had built together, the home that was their love, settled on solid ground already, and that he knew would only grow stronger as the years passed. More than anything, he was glad for the fact that though he himself was a predictable creature of habit and comfort, Marco was just as thrilled to be beside him as he had always been. They didn't need surprises to fall deeper in love, every day that they were together.

Still, Jean couldn't help smiling when their server – a young woman he and Marco knew by name, by then – placed a small plate in front of Marco, topped with a slice of chocolate cake he hadn't ordered. She wished him a happy birthday and stayed nearby to hear his thanks, digging into her pocket to retrieve her phone, with a sly wink in Jean’s direction. Jean waited with a bitten-back grin for Marco to take his first bite, and wondered what he'd say when he found the small, golden surprise, hidden beneath the cake’s fluffy frosting.

Surprises only happened every once in a while, for Jean and Marco. But Jean wagered that _this_ one – and the question that sat on the tip of his tongue, that went along with it - would be one worth remembering, forever. 


End file.
